Are we losing our real friends?

"Excuse me? Are you even Amy's friend?" (de Zengotita 82)

How has being someone's "friend" changed with the advent of the Internet and especially, Facebook? We now have our private lives plastered on the web for almost anyone to see. The girl who was in my Intro to Anthropology World Sim group second semester of freshman year is now privvy to information that probably only 15 to 20 people knew about me five years ago. Does this make me feel more special? Not really. Well, maybe. She probably doesn't even care that I've decided to go skydiving this summer. But now she knows. If she really wanted to, she could figure out who my ex-boyfriends are and which of my "friends" are actually related to me. Including my brother. And my parents. Awkward. I feel like that should bother me more than it does. We have become accustomed to broadcasting information about ourselves and receiving tiny pieces of (possibly) insignificant feedback. What is the thrill behind telling the world about your plans for Friday night? Do they really need to know? Probably not. But then, someone might comment on your status and suggest something even better. Or just say they are jealous. Maybe we are just curious to see what other people think of us. My question is, does it really even matter what they think? Do all those little status comments and wall posts that may or may not make me smile or reminisce for 15 seconds accumulate to the equivalent of a face to face conversation with my best friend? She's probably the only person who could have actually told you all those random facts about me five years ago. Don't get me wrong, I still cherish those face-to-face conversations, but sometimes I wonder if our friendship would mean more if she were still the only one who knew some of those things. Are we slowly giving up our ability to have unique, deep relationships? Maybe we are compensating for it in other ways. But still, it's like a leak in security...the more people who know a piece of information, the less important it seems to become. We know the musical preferences and favorite books of people that we've met once. That is pretty creepy. It still throws me off when even a good friend texts me about something I posted in my status. How the heck did they know that? Oh wait...Facebook. It feels so personal when I'm deciding what to say in my status or who to tag in my note...I often forget how many people can ACTUALLY see it. Approximately 600, to be specific. How many actually care? Maybe 30, give or take. I guess my biggest question is, are relationships as we know them, with ourselves AND others, going down the tubes? Are we past the point of no return?